BAFTA award winning film-maker Asitha Ameresekere ventures into the literary world with his debut collection of short stories titled Wedding Gifts & Other Presents. The book to be launched at the British Council on Wednesday, July 30 at 6.30 p.m. is published by the Perera-Hussein Publishing House.
Billed as a ‘charming and eclectic entry into the field of literature’, it sees Asitha placing himself firmly in the cultural sphere of two continents.
“I always wanted to have the book published in Sri Lanka because its origins are here. It was 13 years ago, while working in Colombo, that I wrote the first story – The Litmus Test – which is set on the island as are a few of the others in the collection. Even though the stories are not linked, they all deal with moments when creatures connect and sometimes alter their paths in life as a result,” Asitha told The Sunday Times via email.
Born in London, Asitha was educated at the Overseas Children's School in Sri Lanka, Harrow School in London and read Classics at Bristol University, following it up with an MFA in Directing for Theatre, Video & Cinema at the California Institute of the Arts.
Asitha received critical acclaim for his short film Do Not Erase which won Best Short Film at the 60th British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA), a signal honour for this young film-maker. And he’s been busy since then.
In March 2008 he completed another short film entitled ‘14’ which explores abuse within a family. This is currently on the film festival circuit and he is also developing two feature film scripts. | 
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